Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Had my last final (game theory) this afternoon. So glad to have a break from MIT. Though I will miss it I'm sure. Two days to relax and enjoy Cambridge and then I fly back to Marietta on the 23rd until the 29th for a reunion with family and friends. I'll be offline during that time. I fly out to CA Dec. 30th.

In other news, my paper was accepted at the Babson Entrepreneurship Conference in Indiana for June 2006!

"Fundamentally, blogs are part of a larger, ongoing trend in society that recognizes that true creativity in any area, whether it's in culture or technology, thrives when the power to innovate is distributed to people who will use it, care about it, and consume it. MIT Professor Eric Von Hippel articulates this view most clearly in his book Democratizing Innovation. Those who are starting to grasp this are creating easy-to-use tools to allow users to be the entrepreneurs and innovators of content and culture. Letting users innovate by providing them with new tools allows the emergence of applications and content that the tool makers might never have dreamed of creating."

Friday, December 2, 2005

One of the best things about being at UCSF is the city; San Francisco boasts an amazing array of entertainment outlets for all tastes. I still remember the excitement of moving out to SF a few weeks before classes because I couldn't wait to immerse myself in the music scene. The evening after I arrived, I headed out to Bimbo's 365 in the North Beach neighborhood (hoping I could figure out the bus system to get there). That night I witnessed an excellent electronic/post-rock concert by Mum in one of the city's finest venues, and also had the chance to talk about the City with Belle & Sebastian singer Stuart Murdoch on the street during my trek home; it was great to be living in San Francisco. Over the past year I've been to countless concerts, films and visual arts events, and now I want to share my city entertainment guide with the UCSF community.

I'll start with the form of entertainment I enjoy the most, music. The music scene here in the Bay Area is quite unique and includes especially strong contributions in the genres of hip-hop, electronica and psych-rock. Some of the key players include artists like DJ Shadow with his Quannum Projects label, kid606 and his Tigerbeat6 label, along with rock bands like Erase Errata, Deerhoof, and Animal Collective.